The teams are supposed to build a wall made of colored cubes or pencil boxes. They have the manpower, raw materials, and the skill to build a wall of cubes. But, the trainer will give each team a chit that will have some criteria. The team members have to continue building the wall keeping the criteria in mind.

The teams will start building the walls. But, will continue assembling and disassembling their color blocks as the criteria for their respective teams would have not been met. The trainer will observe the game and hint that they are not able to freeze the wall.

After about 10 minutes of the play, the trainer will ask the teams to forget the chits with the criteria. Then the teams will immediately finish building the wall. The trainer asks the teams to read out the criteria in their chits. The criteria will be, “Red should not be next to Blue, “Blue should not be next to Green”, and “Green should not be next to Red.”

Because of the hidden agendas each team was holding, they could not build a wall or product or a complete output. Once the hidden agendas were removed, the wall or product was built immediately. The same theory holds good for completing a project or work at office. Do we have to list the hidden agendas at workplaces?

The report, in its introduction, sets itself out to report on the potential benefits of engagement for companies, organisations and individual employees, and as it states later, it is not meant to be a “How to Become Engaged” guide, which is a pity because one of the themes that runs through the report is the confusion over what engagement is and the effect that it has on performance.

The report has been created with reference to surveys of many individuals and organisations and the compilation of statistical evidence is awesome, but most of it appears to have been gathered from the same people who are suffering confusion about what engagement is.

There is no feel in this report about what a phenomenal difference an engaged workforce  makes, no understanding of the market dominance that comes with engagement or the flexibility, imagination and pride that an engaged workforce generates.

The engaged workforce is the result of an extremely simple change in the way that managers manage and the result of this change is an earth shattering performance that cannot be competed with by any organisation running a conventional “Command and Control” management strategy.

We had in this report an opportunity to get rid of the confusion that surrounds the concept of engagement. What could have been an extraordinarily insightful initiative got bogged down with phrases of faint praise like this quote from the report: “Work is good for physical and mental wellbeing.”

This sounds like a line written by Harry Enfield for Mr Cholmondly-Warner, instead of the most exciting thing that has happened to our understanding of how to manage our workforce since the brilliant work of Douglas McGregor in his 1960 book, “The Human Side of Enterprise.”  To still be confused about what we should be doing fifty years later is not encouraging.

An employee at the phone company O2 is quoted as saying: “One thing that really stands out at the moment is the help and support we get from the management team. They’re really listening to their people.”  But in the feedback from their Head of  “Employee Involvement and Experience” there does not seem to be any acknowledgement of just how key this simple statement is.  It is as if what management are doing happened by accident, instead of being the cornerstone of a deliberate policy to change the way the workforce feel about what they do, to engage them.

Later in the report we are told that barriers to engagement are “confusion and misunderstanding,” but at the same time the report quotes Professor John Oliver of the Northern Leadership Alliance as saying: “Ninety Nine percent of failure to engage staff is due to management behaviour.”  There does not seem to be any confusion about that statement. The barriers to engagement are created by the behaviour of the managers!

On the first day at work every employee is engaged. They are happy to be there, they know the skills that they have to bring to work and they are looking forward to being able to use them to make a difference. The workforce’s natural engagement and desire to be effective is killed off by the things that management subsequently do to them.

The authors of the report tell us that there is no Silver Bullet that will cause people to engage. Perhaps that is because they are looking at the wrong end of the gun. Instead of looking for the bullet that will make people engage they should have been looking for the bullet that would stop people from disengaging, because that one is blindingly obvious. Find out what managers are doing that causes the workforce to disengage. Then stop them from doing it!

Vic Bayliss, the Director of Customer services at Westminster City Council got it in a nutshell. He said: “Staff have seen this as a programme that is being done with them, not to them.”  In this report Vic shows a rare perception that is unfortunately not shared by the bulk of the contributors.

I sincerely hope that this report does not have the effect of turning the concept of Engagement into the level of another “Management Good Idea” that will be used, as has been stated on several different occasions in the report, as a way to get the workforce to accept what management want them to do. When used in this way it becomes a cheap trick alongside many other “Management Good Ideas” that failed as soon as the workforce realised that management were just trying out another way to manipulate them.

Real engagement is the result of an ongoing collaboration between management and the workforce that produces the sorts of comments that were quoted by the O2 employee, not the result of a single initiative, survey or desire to manipulate.

Download the complete report from: http://www.davidzinger.com/employee-engagement-macleod-review-this-is-required-reading-3523/

Mentors also get the privilege of watching their staff or mentee grow, learn, flourish and become mentors themselves.  As I grown my current position, I strive to be a great example and mentor to my staff as Betty and Renee have done for me.  As the Director of Career Services I would tell all students and graduates to find a mentor and to establish a mutually beneficial relationship that will help your career grow.   Additionally I would say that there is one other person I recommend that you find as you climb the career ladder of your choice.  Your second brain. The old adage goes that two brains are better than one.  It’s true.

You need to find yourself a second brain and here is why.  You are not perfect and you will never be.  You make mistakes, we all do and we all will continue to do so.  Sometimes you need someone to look over a document you created; ask your second brain.  Sometimes you need an extra set of ears to listen to an idea; ask your second brain.  Sometimes you need a voice of reason to stop you from doing something detrimental; ask your second brain.  Sometimes you need a vote of confidence when you aren’t 100% confident in yourself; ask your second brain.

Finding a person that you can trust, that can think objectively and give you a differing opinion is a gift.  They can add perspective that we often can’t see ourselves.  The synergy that two people brainstorming can create can be very productive and effective.  Your second brain can reinforce ideas and can stop train wrecks from happening.  They are a safety checkpoint for your actions; let’s face it sometimes in life we need a safety net. This person might be a loved one, a co-worker, a friend or too it could be your mentor or manager.   

So in addition to finding a great mentor; find a person to be your second brain.  This person can be a beneficial member of your Career Team and help you find success for the long term.  In the spirit of this blog, I’d like to dedicate it to my mentors Renee and Betty and to my second brain, Kay.

I organized a painting competition at one of my workplaces. The paintings of the participants had to reflect or bring about the vision and mission of the company. One of the painters brought out an artwork that was a stunning example for the power of NOW.

The painting was of trapeze artistes. Both the artistes are NOW in the air with the arms reaching out for one another’s. If they miss that second when they have to lock hands and change positions – it results in a fall.

I found it to be an excellent example of the power of NOW. One area where I never practice the power of NOW is in giving feedback. Even if I do not like something, I keep quiet. But I don’t forget either. So, sometimes I give feedback after a year or few years.

People who do not want to hear the feedback will sidetrack the situation by pointing out the delay in the feedback. So the saying that “Feedback should be red hot and immediate” is to be followed. That explains the power of NOW. You capture an arm of error with an arm of feedback. NOW! 

–

Anitha is an engineer with a masters in human resource management. She has conducted and been a part of syncronous and asynchronous training in technical and soft skills subjects. Her interests include reading, cooking, singing, and listening to music.

This idea is known as “the self-fulfilling prophecy”. When you believe the team will perform well, in some strange, magical way they do. And similarly, when you believe they won’t perform well, they don’t.

There is enough experimental data to suggest that the self-fulfilling prophecy is true. One unusual experiment in 1911 concerned a very clever horse called Hans. This horse had the reputation for being able to add, multiply, subtract, and divide by tapping out the answer with its hooves. The extraordinary thing was that it could do this without its trainer being present. It only needed someone to put the questions.

On investigation, it was found that when the questioner knew the answer, he or she transmitted various very subtle body language clues to Hans such as the raising of an eyebrow or the dilation of the nostrils. Hans simply picked up on these clues and continued tapping until he arrived at the required answer. The questioner expected a response and Hans obliged.

In similar vein, an experiment was carried out at a British school into the performance of a new intake of pupils. At the start of the year, the pupils were each given a rating, ranging from “excellent prospect” to “unlikely to do well”. These were totally arbitrary ratings and did not reflect how well the pupils had previously performed. Nevertheless, these ratings were given to the teachers. At the end of the year, the experimenters compared the pupils’ performance with the ratings. Despite their real abilities, there was an astonishingly high correlation between performance and ratings. It seems that people perform as well as we expect them to.

The self-fulfilling prophecy is also known as the Pygmalion Effect. This comes from a story by Ovid about Pygmalion, a sculptor and prince of Cyprus, who created an ivory statue of his ideal woman. The result which he called Galatea was so beautiful that he immediately fell in love with it. He begged the goddess Aphrodite to breathe life into the statue and make her his own. Aphrodite granted Pygmalion his wish, the statue came to life and the couple married and lived happily ever after.

The story was also the basis of George Bernard Shaw’s play “Pygmalion”, later turned into the musical “My Fair Lady”. In Shaw’s play, Professor Henry Higgins claims he can take a Cockney flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, and turn her into a duchess. But, as Eliza herself points out to Higgins’ friend Pickering, it isn’t what she learns or does that determines whether she will become a duchess, but how she’s treated.

“You see, really and truly, apart from the things anyone can pick up (the dressing and the proper way of speaking and so on), the difference between a lady and a flower girl is not how she behaves but how she’s treated. I shall always be a flower girl to Professor Higgins, because he always treats me as a flower girl, and always will, but I know I can be a lady to you because you always treat me as a lady, and always will.”

The implication of the Pygmalion effect for leaders and managers is massive. It means that the performance of your team depends less on them than it does on you. The performance you get from people is no more or less than what you expect: which means you must always expect the best. As Goethe said, “Treat a man as he is and he will remain as he is. Treat a man as he can and should be and he will become as he can and should be.”

–

Eric Garner is Managing Director of ManageTrainLearn, the site that will change the way you learn forever. Download free samples of the biggest range of management and personal development materials anywhere and experience learning like you always dreamed it could be. Just click on http://www.managetrainlearn.com/ and explore.

Cheerleaders are said to be a small crowd across the globe, and it makes them very special and unique for what they do – fly across continents to be at sports venues just to spread cheer, warmth, positive energy, smiles and laughter. So, wherever they cheer, they are an epitome of what all of us aspire to be… just plain happy within and outside.

The power of their presence is felt when you see them cheering the crowds – you and me included.  Does anything cheer you more, bring more joy, more vivacity during these matches than these cheerleaders? They dance and giggle through you TV screen irrespective of how the match is poised. Whichever team you and me may patronize in the game, we are all on one-side – the side of the cheerleaders……

These cheerleaders are not just bone and flesh, pretty and chic…. In each of them is a teacher, a nurse, a corporate executive, an airline hostess, a travel guide, an architect…but above all, they are cheer-leaders and their goal is to spread as much joy and cheer cutting across color, creed, and continents. This is the power of positive energy at its best.  If each one of us, above all we do in our lives, decides to imbibe cheerleading, this world will be a greater place than it is now.

Each of these cheer leaders have their own set of problems, they have overcome many hurdles in life than any of you and me, they have their successes, failures and setbacks, and in some cases even insurmountable tragedies.

BUT they are a determined lot – put all of their personal life aside, and be here and now, only to make you and me smile, laugh, feel happy, feel good, be a bundle of positive emotions.  Believe me, even the critics of these cheerleaders, get infected  with their joyful emotions. THAT is the power of spreading positive energy, smile, happiness, and joy. We all must imbibe a little bit of cheerleading in our daily schedule.

Amongst them, each of these cheerleaders invests so much of time and energy in staying and looking to be what they are…. Be it keeping their good and happy looks, an ever smiling disposition, a strong mind and body to take them across countries, and make a million and more spectators reciprocate the same positive energy and joy. I don’t think there could be any other small group akin to these wonderful cheerleaders. Cheerleaders are power packed positive emotions their best. They  are teamwork at its best. Each one of these cheerleaders is from a different place, nation, speaks a different language, has a unique set of life goals and career aspirations. But when it comes to their ‘here and now’ goal of cheering, they are the best team, move as one, dance as one, and smile and make you smile as one…a cohesive and close-knit team that performs only to accomplish the group’s goal to cheer. These are great management lessons in how teamwork ought to be.

Cheerleaders spread joy and happiness not to one sport…  They do the same for cricket, baseball, football and any other sport which would want to get them to cheer the crowd.  That is an example of a vision statement, irrespective of what is done… a vision to spread joy and cheer, and positive vibes for a huge audience.  So, here we learn the power of having a personal or corporate vision.

Let’s all benefit from a few good life lessons from these cheerleaders!

–

Muralidharan is an HR practitioner and a recruitment professional. A strong believer in spreading cheer and positivity, Murali currently works out of Chennai and is a voracious reader and a prolific writer.

1.    Act with integrity; this is one quality that will make a great team.
2.    Credibility as a team-leader is mostly as good as only it is perceived. So display credibility and act with credibility.
3.    Walk the talk, you get judged well only when you walk the talk. Example: if you are asking for quality work, it’s a given that you also would do the same. Doing the other way destroys credibility.
4.    Be enthusiastic; encourage the team to be enthusiastic as well.
5.    Never hire in haste, which makes waste.
6.    Educate the team on who your customer is, who your competition is.
7.    Create a mechanism to know what is happening in competition.
8.    Let the team know that the customer is supreme, and he is your most important asset.
9.    Give no room for politics in your team. At the hint of it, stem it at the root; and exhibit the fact that politicking is a strict no-no.
10.    Communicate personally as often as possible; use the phone; only re-iterate in written communication.
11.    Smile and laugh in the team, work need not be serious as most of us would think it to be.
12.    Share the joy of any of your team-members.
13.    Share and partake in their sorrows. Give a helping hand, in whichever way you can when a need arises.
14.    Make the team workplace a fun place to be; again laugh and smile.
15.    Show the team member how happy you are to have him/her in the team.
16.    Celebrate each of your team-members birthdays, anniversary… pass on gifts voluntarily.
17.    Have a vision statement for the team; in line with the organization’s vision statement.
18.    Make the purpose of the team clear – it could be revenues, number of customers, turn around time, producing so many units… whatever.
19.    Let this purpose be written down and shared amongst all team members.
20.    Set individual goals clearly – leave no ambiguity in this – make it measurable for them as well as you.
21.    Clear state the expected quality of work, and quantity of work – on a day, for  a week, for the month, and for the year.
22.    Go out of your way to help a team member reach the stated goal.
23.    Make each of them feel that he/she can confide in you.
24.    Understand and talk to them of their job-goals and career goals.
25.    Make learning a team habit. Encourage learning in any form.
26.    Train the team in relevant and contemporary work skills.
27.    Build the team on the strength of his/her personal qualities.
28.    Don’t brood on their weaknesses. Or pass comments on them.
29.    Make them aware of the business opportunities and threats, and the way to remain in a position of advantage.
30.    Build a lot of fun around the goals..  make work interesting…..
31.    Celebrate small milestones, by any team member, and shower praises in public
32.    Celebrate and reward team ideas, which would bring in better results, fresh insights, and knowledge to all – and celebrate this each and every time.
33.    Discourage yes-men. If two people agreed on everything, then one of them is redundant.
34.    Show the team members a growth path – a path that would be intertwined with positive contribution.
35.    Reward excellence. Abhor mediocrity.
36.    Do not reprimand team members. Grown ups don’t need to be reprimanded; they only need to be counseled or advised.
37.    Allow people to make mistakes, which are the only way you get a learning team. Sans mistakes, no new things are going to happen.
38.    Make corrections well in time; not once in a blue moon. Once in a blue moon corrections upset the person, you and the team objectives.
39.    Evince interest in each individual; know them a little more than professionally – their family, their interests, passion, hobbies etc.
40.    Go for lunch once a week outside the office campus; this is by far the best way to bond.
41.    Get the families of teams together once a month. If the teams are cross location, make it at least once in a quarter.
42.    Be transparent and rational in all decision making.
43.    Be objective and not subjective in any of your deeds at work, and related to work.
44.    Make incentive plans objective, simple and clear. Complicated plans lead to a lack of uniform understanding across the team. This colors judgment, and defeats the team spirit.
45.    Take personal interest to ensure that all pay-out timelines are adhered to by the organization and the divisions.
46.    State clearly that a performer would have a soft corner, and would be rewarded.
47.    Reward performers often. And for the accomplishments.
48.    Keep team meetings brief, and with a stated objective and agenda.
49.    Do not meet formally without a written agenda circulated.
50.    Build in a surprise element in rewards for small wins – this could be internal or external to the organization – could be a new client acquired, a new proposal, a cost saving measure, a new idea, whatever…

–

Muralidharan is an HR practitioner and a recruitment professional. A strong believer in spreading cheer and positivity, Murali currently works out of Chennai and is a voracious reader and a prolific writer.

Our story was something along these lines, and to clarify Mark (my husband) and I have a strong personal relationship, but it is not perfect and so there is some ‘stuff.’ What we failed to appreciate was just how much of our personal lives we were injecting into our business and how this was eating into our productivity, profits and potential.

A list of the tasks and management principles used by a large company, and there are a few below, should be similar for a smaller outfit, although the order of magnitude may differ.

•    The most qualified person to do a particular job, should be doing it: The poor salesman needs to get trained and good, or move over and let someone else do it.
•    What are the aims and objectives of the company?: If you want to make a million pounds while your partner wants to save the world, then factor this into your objectives and direction.

•    Short, medium and long term goals: You must understand each other’s goals and motivations so that you act synergistically.

•    Company values: If one partner is operating the business outside of the values of the other, then the business risks failure. For example, if your top company value is helping people, whilst your partner seeks financial wealth, someone’s values are at risk of serious compromise. This one is a deal breaker.

•    Individual strengths, weaknesses and development needs: In the big corporate world your performance would be appraised to identify weaknesses, training needs, set targets and ensure you work to your strengths. When was the last time you had an appraisal?

•    Individual job titles, job descriptions and responsibilities: If no-one has a job description, how do you ensure the dull and difficult stuff gets done, or eliminate overlaps, i.e. two people doing the same job

•    Have you assigned yourself an hourly rate?: By this I mean, what would you pay yourself per hour, for what you produce. If you don’t know what your time is worth, how can you decide if you should do a job yourself or pay someone else?

What will you change when you know the precise cash value of your wasted hours?

Perhaps you are like a lot of couples who decide to go into business? At first you’re so busy in the trenches that forward planning is the last thing on your mind. If you take a step back now, do you and your partner do any of these?

•     Accept substandard work rather than risk hurting your partner’s feelings.

•    Bringing last night’s argument into the office.

•    Redoing your partner’s work because it is not up to your standard.

•    Discussing at length how, why and by whom a job should be done.

•    Rehashing and re-organising systems.

•     Agreeing with a proposal you think is flawed, just to keep the peace.

•    Both of you doing the same job, which only needed doing once.

•    Rushing a job which has now become urgent because no-one was responsible for completing it on time.

If you do any of the above, do you know what it costs you?

The quantifiable resources such as wasted time spent squabbling or by inefficiencies; unnecessary travelling time and costs; additional printing or postage, phone bills, extra taxes, unused products…

And what of the even scarier unquantifiables such as lost sales; lack of momentum, unused or wasted resources, lost energy, lost the will to live.

If you could spend just one day to identify with certainty your individual strengths; align your personal and company values; set exciting and empowering business and personal goals; develop a congruent business plan AND take away with you all the skills and tools you both need to repeat the process and realign your values whenever you wanted, and as your company evolves – how much would that be worth to you? Later on I’ll tell you about the really tiny thing which Mark and I discovered but which turned not only our business, but our personal lives around. But first, a little background information about how we happened at that point. When we started our company Stormchasers Ltd we just divvied up the jobs so that all the important tasks would get done. This is what happened:

•    Instead of doing my boring jobs, I would poke my nose in to find Mark a more efficient way of doing his.

•     I might decide not to tell Mark there was a better way to do his job, for fear of undermining him.

•    Frustrated, eventually I would tell him there was a better way of doing his job, but in a way that did undermine him.

•    Mark would give in to my suggestions for ‘improvement’ just to keep the peace; but I hadn’t really thought things through properly so the job would get done my way, but now ineffectively.

•    I would come up with loads of business ideas which I would partly implement.

•    We discussed everything at length for fear of excluding each other from decisions.

•    We spent ages fussing and arguing over trifling issues and left the really important matters alone for fear of causing a serious rift in our personal relationship.

If these seem inconsistent and contradictory, that’s because they are, and that happened because each one of us was lurching between deciding to accept poor workmanship, or a bad decision by the other, to reaching the point of no compromise where something had to change.

I’m a certified Master NLP Practioner and came across Value Systems as part of my ongoing studies and decided to try it out on us. This is what we found.

Mark is operating at values level 4 where hierarchy, duty and having the correct system to follow are extremely important. Interestingly, he spent sixteen happy and productive years in the army. Values level 4 people often don’t feel their personal reward is of upmost importance; they crave purpose, order, stability and someone in charge to provide direction. Their management system is hierarchical with order maintained and a defined decision making process. They have a sense of duty and believe in doing what’s right.

I on the other hand am largely a values level 5 where individual goals and seeking out the best way are important. Values level 5 will compete to succeed, sense possibilities for change and find an individual opportunity to do better. These are the innovators and idea generators. The entrepreneurs. Goal setters and seekers. They have no sense of duty and believe in doing what’s right for them.

This was an amazing revelation for us. Before, we had a task based organization.

Mark – retail, accounts

Sian – paying bills, getting customers

However, there are some fundamental elements missing from the above structure, which prevented us from moving forward. After our values revelation, we restructured to this.

Sian – Strategic big picture, product development, testing, focus and system development.

Mark – Detailed processes, retail, accounts, bills.

Both of us – goals, vision, job descriptions, aims and corporate values

Today I contribute the ideas to move us forward – the strategic direction, whilst Mark provides the stability and delivers the systems and day-to-day jobs, which now get done on time. He says, “It’s Sian’s role to come up with the ideas, and my job to organise the chaos she creates into real productivity.”

We learned that instead of him dreading me taking over, Mark was desperately wondering where the structure and rules were. I on the other hand, was so wary of being seen as a domineering tyrant who wanted to be in charge of everything, that I did nothing and was largely unproductive.

An NLP Practitioner will structure a bespoke programme for you, but you can start right now by applying these ideas for change.

1. Create a positive environment for change and development by agreeing to be honest, trusting and accepting of a performance less than perfect. Don’t point score.

2. Each work out your life and business values and describe what they mean for you.

3. Agree common values for your business.  Examples could be integrity, customer satisfaction, delivering value, making money and helping others.

4.  Brainstorm all the jobs that must be done for your business to run smoothly.   Beside each, write the name of the person who will deliver. Agree empowerment.  No poking noses in.

5.  Establish areas where either or both of you lacks confidence such as cold calling or dealing with customer complaints.

6.  Use the information in items 4 and 5 to establish a training, development and appraisal programme.

7. Each write a job description and decide job titles.

8. Set business and personal goals.

Do it all again 6 months later.

–

Sian Murphy is a direct response copywriter who works with Alan Forrest Smith as part of the Orange Beetle Team. In addition to writing for sianmurphycopywriter.com and the non-conformist Orangebeetle.com/blog she also writes and publishes articles on business and personal development.

When we get out of people’s way, they have the space to grow. When we stop thinking for them, they start to think for themselves. And when we stop telling them what our solutions are, they come up with the best solutions of all.

1. Gentle Leadership. Like it or not, the group will turn to the group leader at critical moments in the life of a group…
• to exert authority (especially if someone challenges the agreed rules)
• to be a model of legitimate and compassionate authority
• to be the expert
• to inform
• to adjudicate
• to empower
• to reward
• to provide feedback.

The group leader does not respond to the need for leadership by wresting control back from the group, but rather uses the skills of gentle leadership to help them lead themselves.

“The true leader is always led.” (Carl Jung)

2. Gentle Interventions. Gentle leadership comes from gentle interventions: a gentle frown; a gentle look; a gentle smile; a gentle touch; a gentle nudge; a gentle few words; gentle persuasion.

Other techniques of gentle persuasion are:

• suggesting options but without forcing the group to choose
• posing questions to make people think
• pointing out possible consequences
• making a point indirectly through stories, anecdotes, myth and legends, the way gentle leaders throughout history have always conveyed their message.

“Gentle interventions, if they are clear, overcome rigid resistance. If gentleness fails, try yielding or stepping back altogether. When the leader yields, resistance fails.” (John Heider)

3. 3D Leaders. The 3-D leader is the leader who can lead a group from any of the following three positions:
• out in front of the group
• in amongst the group
• at the back of the group.

The 3-D leader is like the mountain guide who knows when to tell the group to “Follow me!”, when to mix in amongst them to gain their confidence; and when to let everyone climb a cliff first so that he can check their progress and safety from below.

The distinctive mark of the 3-D leader is care; and from caring comes the courage to try bold things.

4. Charisma. Charisma is a quality that belongs to the art of gentle leadership. It enables you to influence others simply by your presence and attentiveness.

One of the most charismatic people ever to have lived was President John F. Kennedy. It was said that when you spoke to Kennedy, you were made to feel that nothing else in the world mattered to him at that moment than you, your thoughts and feelings. That’s the effect of charisma.

The word “charisma” comes from the “Charities” or Graces of Greek mythology. These were three goddesses, Aglaia, Euphrosyne, and Thalia, who were reputed to have given humour, graciousness and good manners to mankind.

5. Class. The gentle leader has no need to prove himself or herself to the group. When interventions are made, they are as a last resort; when skills are used, they are always understated.

“One thing that all of us must understand, whether it is in selling, business or in our relationships with others, is not to come on too strong. Many of us tend to do this. We get so excited that our enthusiasm outruns the content of our message. That is, the harder you try, the more doubt you imply to the listener.

There is a phrase that covers this. The object is to be so strong, so powerful, that you can afford to be gentle. As change occurs, as your growth happens from inside, you will become more powerful, more confident. So you can become gentle, at ease and real. Which is another way of saying you will have class.” (Louis Tice)

6. The Leader as Catalyst. A catalyst is a substance that merely by its presence, causes change in other substances.

The group facilitator acts as catalyst when he or she shows the group genuine understanding, offers them recognition, helps them to make sense of their problems and encourages them to be all they can be.

• at the feeling level, she is wooer, charmer, and empathizer
• at the thinking level, he is interpreter, questioner and stimulator
• at the valuing level, she is champion, enabler and nurturer.

None of these roles are played up front as if to say: “Look at me”. They are always applied with a light and gentle touch.

–

Eric Garner is Managing Director of ManageTrainLearn, the site that will change the way you learn forever. Download free samples of the biggest range of management and personal development materials anywhere and experience learning like you always dreamed it could be. Just click on <a href=”http://www.managetrainlearn.com”>ManageTrainLearn</a> and explore.

I am going to tell you a formula that will help you win in every situation. Give yourself a P-A-T.  P stands for Positivity, A for Action and T for Tenacity.

P – Positivity: Be positive (and I don’t mean your blood group). Have an open mind and a positive attitude and half your battle is won. When Edison’s lab burned down with all his experiments (over 10000 of them), he said, “Good, all my mistakes are burnt, now I can start afresh.”

A – Action: No work would ever be done if we just stood there waiting for something to happen. The Gita clearly says, “Do your karma, do not worry about the fruit.” You need to act to make things happen.

T – Tenacity: Be tenacious, be perseverant. From a man who could not read out a report, it was tenacity that carried M.K.Gandhi to become the greatest communicator of Indian History, and preach non-violence to the world.

You just gave the project your best shot and your boss failed to notice, so what? You had a brilliant idea of tackling the problem, but they weren’t interested in listening to you, so what? You deserved that promotion and someone else got it, so what?

Some will, some won’t, so what and who next? Give yourself a PAT. Be positive, do something about it, and try till you succeed. You will end up being a better person, with a better job and a better life.

The PAT on the back factor was huge in America recently. People saw an opportunity not just to feel proud of their country, but also to feel proud of themselves. Barack Obama won. His formula was simple too. “PAT”. He oozed positivity, acted as was expected of him, and was perseverant. It was no surprise that Obama won.

Recently, sharing a cup of coffee with a friend at Barista, I noticed a bulletin board, which proudly displayed the “Employee of the month”. I looked behind the counter to see the smiling face, with a star on his shoulder, efficiently whipping the cream, pouring the coffee, and handling the billing. Clearly, many organizations have realized that giving out cash bonuses, awards, recognitions can result in less absenteeism, higher morale and more productivity.

When a junior or colleague does well, do give him a PAT on the back. Your son or daughter has done well in the class, pat his/her back. Your team just lost the cricket match, give your teammates a PAT with a “well-tried”. Your best friend just lost someone dear to him, give him the “I’m here for you” PAT. Give somebody a PAT on the back, and make a difference in someone’s life.

Best of all, give yourself a PAT on the back for being the wonderful person that you are.

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Dr. Arora is a freelance corporate trainer, Reiki master, feng shui consultant and aromatherapist. A periodontist by education, a Toastmaster by passion, she has been actively associated with radio, theatre and fine arts. Visit her websites www.mentalsparks.com and www.camelliastory.com.

Enthusiasm, dedication and charisma are some of the more important characteristics of leadership. Leaders are seen as good and evil and take on many personalities and roles, from managers or coaches to world leaders. It is believed that every leader possesses charisma and brings change and success. Thus leadership begins with vision, concern and mentorship.

There are ten important themes that help leadership. It is my belief that by not adhering to the ten traits, leaders not only fail but bring chaos to organization.

L = Listening

Good listening is required in order to understand employee attitudes and motivators. Get to know your employees by asking a lot of open-ended questions. When you ask questions, you have a chance to listen, and when you listen, you begin to better understand employee motivations, body language and issues. Get them to speak of issues that confront them and enable them to find solutions. Offer challenges to corporate issues with solutions. And, provide credit to the employee with a solid reply.

E = Enthusiasm

Employees want to be motivated. This begins with positive energy and positive commitment. Your personal ills and corporate pressures are unimportant to your employees. They are concerned about them. In good times and bad you must always express a positive and energetic attitude. Finish line energy gets finish line results.

A = Awareness

Be aware of issues that are non-verbal. Leaders must have keen sense that denote when employees are happy, frustrated, tired or overwhelmed. You must sense the issue and eliminate it quickly so that you keep organizational harmony.

D = Decisive

Employees loathe procrastinators! They want quick, decisive and meaningful replies. Leaders do not ponder, they make quick decisions to difficult problems and find immediate solutions.

E = Equal

The cliché “equal pay, for equal treatment” is so true. Leaders do not treat employees based on title, age, race, religion. Leaders understand that “everyone” and “anywhere” in the organization is equal. Leaders go by the principle that the sum of the parts is greater than the whole.

R = Reward

Adults desire more than just money with work. They desire recognition, and kudos for a job well done. However, in today’s marketplace, employees although happy, are looking for more contentment from their current job. This sense of pride and self-worth is a large issue for most people.

If people feel that they make a difference, they will care about organizational objectives, if not, apathy emerges. In sum, the job affects the person and the person affects the job. So what can be accomplished to gain a better sense of company pride and loyalty? Establish a reward system and watch the attitudes soar!

S = Success

Leaders understand the reasons of having corporate and divisional mission and vision statements. These statements of purpose enable employees to understand, 1) Who the firm is, 2) Where they are going? and 3) How they will get there. True leaders establish missions as a roadmap to future success.

H = Hypocrite

Leaders make decisions and stick with them. Leaders understand that reversing decisions make them a hypocrite. Further leaders take action when they offer action. For example, if a leader decides employees need training, he or she too takes the training. If a leader decides pay cuts are necessary to preserve profits they too take a cut. Leading by example creates a happier employee core and loyalty; contradicting the efforts creates dispassion, disbelief and attrition.

I = Isolate

Leaders believe in team work and team play. Every employee counts toward the bottom line. Leaders do not isolate themselves from the team and do no isolate the team from each other. As the saying goes, “There is no “I” in team”

P = Positive communication

In good times and in bad leaders create positive communication and feedback to employees. Positive and meaningful communication creates loyalty and mutual exchange of ideas and attitudes. When ideas are fresh and positive, profits and productivity soar!

The leader of tomorrow is changing from the top down style of management to a collegial approach where all become counterparts. Working together creates brings productivity that both sides seek. Leaders who have created this style of management have names on the front door such as Cisco, UPS, Home Depot, Lowes, Wal-Mart, et al. These leaders are change agents and strive to become not only recognized brand names but also recognized leaders. Employ the ten leadership traits, enculturate these in your organization and watch productivity grow.

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Drew Stevens is a business growth expert. He speaks and consults around the world for organizations that require expertise in leadership and marketing. Visit Drew at www.drewstevensconsulting.com/freestuff and get hundreds of dollars in FREE selling tips.

Leading such teams is indeed very challenging, even stressful. The project leader has to create convergence towards a common goal  when everything seems to encourage divergence: different geographies means little direct contact between team members, different time zones reduce windows of availability for team discussions, different languages increases communication problems and different mindsets mean potential disagreements in terms of what, who, how, when and why.

In my opinion, 3 key challenges must be met by the global manager:

•    Trust: the key ingredient in team success is mutual trust which comes from knowing one another.  Local teams build this trust through day-to-day contact, a luxury often denied global teams. Global team leaders have to be even more attentive to building trust in the team.
•    Cohesion and clarity of purpose: team members dispersed geographically are more vulnerable to fragmentation because they are often caught between the hammer of global objectives and the anvil of local objectives.  The global leader must therefore make special efforts to bond the team to the common goal.
•   Communication: distance and dispersion creates a communication gap which makes global teams more vulnerable to confusion and misunderstanding. Global leaders must therefore constantly make special efforts to maintain clarity of purpose.

Trust, cohesion/clarity of purpose and communication are the key ingredients in making the “glue” which the global leader needs to lead his/her global team. So what pragmatic, concrete steps can a global leader take to build trust, cohesion and clarity of purpose? Here are some suggestions:

Trust

•    Celebrate diversity: diversity is positive so always be open and listen before you speak. Team members will feel more confident and willing to contribute when they feel they are listened to and all are included and can contribute.
•    Trust but verify: Give your trust first but reserve the right to check. People respond to trust positively but organizations sometimes get in the way of individuals meeting commitments.
•    Lead by example: say what you do and do what you say. Team members will recognize that you deliver on commitments and respond positively.
•    Be honest: don’t have any hidden agendas and be up front. Team members will accept mistakes, not being misled or tricked. Always be open and clear.
•    Think win-win: team members will be more willing to contribute when they feel there is a win-win spirit and it’s not all one way traffic. This means understanding that team members have also other commitments which require attention.
•    Demonstrate respect: demonstrate respect at all times. Anger, frustration, behaving emotively contribute little and alienate team members.

Cohesion and clarity of purpose

•    Plan: setting overall objectives with clear individual and shared goals and deadlines for all team members is critical in managing global teams. If you don’t know where you’re going, you won’t get there!
•    Prioritize: global leaders need to work with team members to manage the balance between global and local objectives and be flexible when local needs to take precedence over global ones.
•    Monitor performance regularly in a constructive way: a project dashboard capturing collective and individual objectives is even more necessary for global teams so that all can constantly monitor team progress and all can provide mutual support.

Communication

•    Build a communication plan with your team: decide together on how you will communicate as a team within the team and to the organization.
•    Use Technology wisely: the global project leader needs to lever all the different technologies at his disposal to communicate with team members: email, webex, visio, internet, blogs, etc. At the same time, technology is only a support. The global leader must always be available and not rely only on collective meetings via webex. One-on-one discussions are also important.
•    Keep it simple: whatever the communication format, never use slang, never presume others understand, communicate clearly in simple unambiguous words, always reformulate to check understanding and always add personality, enthusiasm and warmth. Remember that spoken words are forgotten, written words remain!
•    Recognize cultural diversity: different cultures have different but complementary ways of getting things done. Be alert to cultural diversity and adapt your communication style accordingly. Some cultures are more task-oriented than others. Some are more relationship oriented. Work with your team to understand the cultural profiles within the team so that all can interact more effectively.

These are only some tips for leaders working globally. However, once the global leader focuses on the 3 key ingredients in bonding his/her team together: trust, cohesion & clarity of purpose, communication, he/she will be well on the way to building an inclusive team culture and the convergence vital to obtaining global success.

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Based in Paris, Josph Noone works in Human Resources, specializing in Organisation and People Development in the aeronautical industry. He is Irish and he has been living in France for more than 20 years. Contact him at Josephnoone@aol.com.

Much of this issue stems from practices embedded within an organizational culture affecting morale and productivity. These include:

•    Leadership not serving as exemplars – some leaders today are narcissists, demeaning and ruthless. More importantly, leaders’ salaries can exceed employee pay by 425 times the average worker. Leaders need to act in harmony with employees and ensure equal treatment of all. Cultures where this practice occurs frequently include McDonalds, Fed Ex and UPS where employees and management are one.

•    Little or no accountability – the United States economic system is currently in financial turmoil and no one is accountable.

•    Career planning and succession planning is null – simply put there is no succession planning. Most CEOs and senior managers join an organization from competitive industries and companies. Whatever happened to the mailroom climb?

•    Too many silos and departmental infighting – companies are in business for one reason – to create clients. End the infighting and focus on the most vital asset! When the fighting ends (and everybody understands their reason for being employed) perhaps harmony arrives.

Causes of low morale correlate to the organization, its culture, and its management. After 25 years of research in this area, we find five factors contributing to organizational morale. A study by the Corporate Leadership Council reveals the tremendous impact managers have on an employee’s level of commitment. It is imperative to note that individuals do not leave companies – they leave poor managers. Organizational mismanagement contributes to negative morale. As recent as 2006 the Gallup Organization estimated there were 32 million actively disengaged employees costing the American economy up to $350 billion per year in lost productivity. Such loss includes absenteeism, tardiness, and poor work.

To dilute the productivity impact, research shows that taking time to build relationships with employees through personal interaction, is a key step managers can take to keep morale high. Employees need to feel trust and respect from their managers. Employees desire feedback from management to understand their work matters.

Ending the morale issue is not easy but there are cures.

1.    Begin with talent acquisition – start with the right people. No firm we work with ever hires on a proactive basis. Most firms conduct employment searches reactively. Seek employees that fit with the organizational culture and with the obligatory skills. Never wait!

2.    Hire for skill – talent is innate. Organizations hire for personality and behavior first and skill second. Skill is not interchangeable, behavior is. A great hire might have a wonderful temperament and lack the skill to plug a socket into an outlet. I recall a five star hotel that sought advice to correct housekeeping flaws. After five minutes, it was easy enough to terminate staff and find those without flaws.

3.    Look at best practices from best people – management focuses on “fixing those that cannot” rather than “improving those that can”. Icons of performance exist in your organization. Discover what they do right and encourage others to emulate it.

4.    Passion –in the 1980’s Sylvester Stallone appeared again as Rocky this time with a theme, “Eye of the Tiger”. What a great metaphor for valuable talent. Seek to acquire talent that truly loves work. Passion too is innate. Employees must love what they do and how they do it. When passion is high, so too is morale.

5.  Focus on the customer – managers, the organization, and the employees must vehemently focus on the customer. Remember Winnie the Pooh, try finding Eeyore amongst staff at Disney; Southwest Airlines and FedEx, all intensely focus on servicing the client.

Lastly, managers must constantly strive to provide feedback to employees. Feedback is not an annual performance review event. It is imperative that daily communication exists for good information and improvement. Coaching, counseling, and mentoring are components of organizational morale. In addition, many attend church and hear the words, “It is right to give thanks and praise”. Many watch professional sports and view coaches coddling athletes. We can learn something here; simple words of thanks and praise constantly improve morale and employee relationships.

Finally, the first item terminated during economic volatility is training. Research finds that employees are assets and require that treatment. Never stop training; this improves productivity and morale at all times.

Issues of low morale and productivity are onerous, volatile, and difficult to control. There is a need for management, the organization, and the individual to assist with success factors. Much is dependent on the desire to change; methods chosen and consistent follow through. However, if you do nothing you still have a morale issue. Take the time, seek remedies, and keep morale high. Doing so, lowers attrition, improves productivity, increases profitability and most importantly- reduces stress.

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Drew Stevens is a business growth expert. He speaks and consults around the world for organizations that require expertise in leadership and marketing. Visit Drew at www.drewstevensconsulting.com/freestuff and get hundreds of dollars in FREE selling tips.